The invention relates to a blower, in particular, a backpack blower, comprising a carrying frame provided with a base plate, wherein a fan comprising a fan housing is mounted on the carrying frame. The fan housing has an intake opening that faces the base plate and is spaced from the base plate. The blower comprises furthermore an internal combustion engine for driving the fan in order to take in working air through an intake gap formed between the base plate and the fan housing and to blow out the working air through a blower tube. For preventing leaves and other debris from entering the fan housing, the intake gap is covered by a leaf shield.
Published patent application U.S. 2002/0174511 A1 discloses a blower having an L-shaped carrying frame. The fan arranged within a fan housing that is formed as a fan spiral is driven by an internal combustion engine whose cooling air is branched off the fan spiral. The intake opening of the fan housing is positioned so as to face the base plate and located at such a spacing to the base plate that between the fan housing and the base plate an intake gap for the working air is formed. In order to prevent leaves and similar debris from entering the intake opening of the fan housing, a filter member is provided that is positioned externally annularly about the intake gap and is comprised of a flexible belt material or a wire fabric. This filter member must be mounted externally on the blower which is a cumbersome and complex task. The effective intake cross-section of the intake gap is impaired by the physical configuration of the filter member.